By John L. Aaron
County Tyrone, Northern Ireland – Following a humiliating series of losses against a far superior West Indies Under-19 squad at home in Florida, the USA Under-19 squad was no doubt looking to put the four losses behind them and look ahead to the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Ireland starting July 28.

New Yorker Amarnauth Persaud got 20 in the warm up game. Photo by Shiek Mohamed

Team USA was off to a very positive start in a warm-up match today against Strabane Cricket Club in Strabane, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland.

Winning the toss and electing to take first strike, Team USA scored 267 all out in 48.4 overs. Top scorers were Pranay Suri, 69 not out, Jodhbir Singh, 57, Abhijit Joshi, 45, Shayan Abdul Ghani, 24, and Amarnauth Persaud, 20.

Bowling for Strabane: T. Eaglestone 8-4-16-2; A. Gillespie 5-0-20-1 and C. Hazelwood 6.2-0-35-2 were the pick of the Strabane crop.

In resply, Strabane C.C. reached 123 all out in 30.5 overs. T. Eaglestone top scored with a well-made 57, P. McNaee, 22 and J. Robinson, 15.

Bowling for Team USA: Shayan Abdul Ghani 8.5-0-27-3, Mital Patel 5-0-30-3, and Pranay Suri 6-2-22-2 were the main scalpers.

No doubt, the victory can only serve to lift the spirits of the lads, as they prepare to go into battle against host Ireland on day one of the tournament, in Dublin, Ireland.
Coach Sew Shivnarain contributed to this story.